Chamber poll: 70 percent believe MPS in state of 'crisis'

Interim State School Superintendent Ed Richardson discusses the Montgomery Public School takeover during the meeting of the State School Board in Montgomery, Al., on Thursday January 11, 2018. (Mickey Welsh / Montgomery Advertiser)
Mickey Welsh / Advertiser

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Montgomery School Board chairman Robert Porterfield, right, looks on as Mayor Todd Strange speaks during a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018, in Montgomery, Ala. The press conference was held to discuss on the state of the Montgomery Public School system.(Photo: Albert Cesare / Advertiser)Buy Photo

About 70 percent of citizens believe Montgomery Public Schools is in midst of a "crisis," according to findings of a Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce survey released Friday.

Six hundred people were live interviewed for the survey: 500 registered voters were interviewed in person and another 100 took part in a cellphone survey.

According to the Chamber of Commerce, nearly 75 percent of those surveyed rated overall MPS quality and job performance of the Montgomery County Board of Education as fair to poor. The same amount placed the blame for MPS' financial woes and low test scores on MCBOE. About 55 percent were in favor of replacing the current board members when they come up for re-election.

"We wanted to see what the overall community felt about this," said Chamber Executive Vice President Anna Buckalew. "Do they have a sense of crisis? Does the community at large have a sense of urgency? Do they share the business community’s perception that our school system is in crisis, that the intervention is critical and that it is very much a function of leadership? The answer to that is yes."

The survey is the latest manifestation of the Chamber's increased involvement in the attempted improvement of MPS, a school system under state intervention for financial and academic shortcomings.

Interim State Superintendent Ed Richardson addressed more than 600 business leaders at a Chamber of Commerce event in December, during which Richardson repeated his oft-cited view that the problems MPS faces have been caused by MCBOE.

“It’s clear to me the board of education, during that time, has not met their responsibility,” Richardson said at the event. “In my opinion, the inaction of the board has been the overriding problem for Montgomery Public Schools. If we had more time, I would elaborate.”

Five of the seven MCBOE members are up for re-election this year with one, Durden Dean, already announcing he does not intend to seek his seat again.

Besides conducting the survey, the Chamber also created a website this month — educatemgm.com — that shows citizens what they need to do to run for the school board.

When asked why the Chamber has decided to involve itself in MPS affairs, Buckalew said, "The Chamber’s mission is to create jobs and improve quality of life for the region."

"We cannot do that with a failing school system," Buckalew said. "It is the greatest obstacle we have to economic growth. Economic growth is the way to prosperity for the children of Montgomery. It’s very much an issue of concern and very germane to what we do."

The business community has often blamed low academic achievement in local public schools for some businesses' decisions not to invest in or relocate to Montgomery. The local magnet schools are ranked as some of the best in the state, and in some cases the nation, but all five nonmagnet public high school were named to the state's failing schools list this week.

"We want the whole community to be as concerned as we are. That’s why we wanted to see if everyone had this sense of crisis and the fact that they do, I think that’s important to know," Buckalew said.